The template is usually added automatically by User:NationalRegisterBot, but it can also be added manually. It is added by the bot when the only inline citations in the article or section are to the NRIS database. The bot will remove the template if it is present on articles with inline citations to other sources.

Date

As with most cleanup templates, the date= parameter sorts the article into subcategories of Category:Articles sourced only to NRIS, allowing the oldest problems to be identified and dealt with first. You do not need to specify the date manually since a bot will add it later automatically; nonetheless adding the date is encouraged.

Editorial usage

This template should only be used for articles which include only inline citations to the NRIS via {{NRISref}}. The bot will tag articles even if other non-inline sources are listed in a "References" section.

Please consider improving the article or making a good faith attempt to locate additional sources and creating additional inline citations before adding this template.

If this template is removed from an article without improving said article, the bot will automatically re-add the template until the problem is fixed. If you believe the bot is doing this in error, direct all questions to User talk:NationalRegisterBot.